SpiderDan 1: Rise of the Six
by Joshua Summers-Fowl III
Summary: When Dan Cahill gets bitten by a radioactive spider, he gains the powers of the web-crawling superhero we all know and love, but when a hero rises, so will a villain. Or in Dan's case, six.
1. Swinging on a Saturday

_**15**_ _ **th**_ _ **March – Saturday**_

 _ **0600 hours**_

Most guys my age would, at 6 in the morning, be sleeping in, or playing stuff like Clash of Clans or League of Legends (at least, the guys in my class do), or possibly raiding the fridge. Others would probably be out running laps around the Washington Monument (like Cap), or maybe waking up totally hung-over after last night's party.

I, on the other hand, spend my Saturday mornings swinging through the downtown area of Manhattan, on the lookout for lawbreakers, criminals and evildoers of any kind.

Yep. Swinging.

Well, it's technically "web-swinging".

You see, I'm not like other guys my age, and I don't mean that in the angsty-introverted-misunderstood teenager way. I mean it in the literal, I'm-a-frickin'-superhero way. I also happen to be one of the coolest superheroes in the history of superhero-kind.

I'm Spiderman.


	2. A Hero's Origins

It all started about a year ago. I was Dan Cahill, star student, with straight A's in all Science and Math related subjects. I was also pretty good on the basketball court, but I tried not to play too much. There was even this cute girl in my class that I had a bit of a crush on.

I had it all.

Then one day, my Biology teacher suggested that I head to Oscorp and attend this radiology demonstration that they were doing. It did sound pretty interesting, so I decided to check it out. If only I knew how much my life would change that day.

* * *

Apparently, radiology is actually pretty popular. There must have been at least 40 people. Which is quite a large number when you understand that the demonstration was by invite only. I was probably the youngest person in the room, though I did see a few other high school students, but mostly those in their final year.

Anyway, the head scientist started her speech and walked us through their research. The test subjects (namely insects, mice and arachnids. I think there was a lamb there, too...) all displayed these really cool traits, like accelerated healing factors and stuff.

The rest of the tour went smoothly. It ended in the main foyer, where they had set out snacks and stuff. Most of the other people left soon after the tour ended, but I hung around for a while. My parents weren't expecting me home until 4, anyway.

Since most of the cool stuff I'd seen was in the radiology division, I decided to go there first. Now, I know what you're thinking. _Sure, a fourteen-year-old wandering through a radiology laboratory with no supervision. What could go wrong?_

I think you know the answer.

You see, during the tour, one of the head scientists, with the aim of demonstrating the accelerated healing factor, had brought out one of the test subjects: a spider. She'd cut off two of the spider's legs in a separate room, connected to ours by air vents and a live video feed. We saw the spider re-grow its legs in a matter of seconds via said live video feed.

When we saw that, pandemonium ensued. Everyone was trying to get a better look at the screen. When the tour guides suggested we continue with the tour, some of the others wanted to stay. Eventually, the guides managed to convince everyone to leave.

As we left, a klaxon came to life. Apparently, a contagion in the pathogenic division had escaped quarantine. The head scientist that conducted the experiment went pale, then rushed out one of the other doors.

I think that in her haste, she'd forgotten to put the spider back into containment, which meant the spider was still in the room when we left. Which also meant that it had access to the room that we were in.

Apparently, it decided the room it was in wasn't comfortable or something. Maybe it was because it had its legs cut off in there. That does things to you.

I had no idea it was even in there, or that the rooms were even connected, so when I saw cobwebs in the room, it took me a couple seconds to process them.

A couple seconds was all it took for that spider to bite me.

If something like that were to happen to me now, I'd probably stay calm, but at that moment, I freaked out. Like, seriously freaked the f*** out. I think the damage reports Oscorp sent me totaled about 1k worth of damage to the lab.

I'm just like, "Hey, I got bitten by a radioactive spider. Who wouldn't freak out and start smashing extremely expensive stuff in an attempt to understand what's going on?"

Actually, now that I've said it, it does sound stupid.

Anyway, a security guard must've heard me, because one ran into the room. Bearing in mind the fact that I was illegally in a radiology laboratory with (probably) millions of dollars worth of technology, you can't blame me for running out the door. The guard yelled at me to stop, but I just kept running, like a Griever was chasing me. (See what I did there? Running...Grievers...no?

I kept running up and up, towards the roof. Why, I have no idea. And no, it's not that impressive when you realize that the rooftop was, like, 5 floors above the lab.

As I burst out the door, the guard managed to get close enough to tackle me, which he attempted to. For some weird reason, I actually _sensed_ the guard jumping. Even weirder, my body somehow rolled out of the way. I fell over from the momentum, and slid across the floor. Off the side of the roof.

As I fell, part of me is thinking _Of course, checking something cool out HAS to end in my certain death._ Like, why not?

I was falling face down at the rate of about 3 floors a second (at least, that's what I think it was). My hands were flailing, I was screaming...and then the impossible happened.

I'm not exactly sure how I triggered it, but in my terror, I somehow fired webbing from my wrist. You heard me right, _spider_ webbing. Fortunately for me, it connected with one of the Oscorp towers, so instead of falling, I was swinging. Unfortunately, I was swinging straight towards it.

 _Shit..._

I hit the tower seconds later. I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn't think it was going to hurt THAT much. Even worse, the shock from the impact knocked my webbing loose, so I was falling again. Instincts kicked in, and I irrationally stretched my hand out to the floor-to-ceiling window to stop myself.

The universe must have been messing with me, because I actually stopped.

My hand stuck to the window.

It was then that I realised it: I had that spider's abilities.

I had become the Spiderman.


	3. The Full Story

I swore that day that I would learn all I could about my powers and how to use them for good. I won't recount everything that happened, but I will make note of some of my more important findings:

Do not try to use standard webbing to stop electricity themed villains.

Excessively taunting villains may sound like a good idea, but it isn't.

Stealth and smarts always beats strength, especially when fighting a group of power-crazy thugs.

Anyway, not only did I have the ability to sense imminent danger(which I'm now calling my Spider-sense), I developed my own web-shooters so that hitting things at speed won't detach my webbing. I also made my own spider costume (with camouflage abilities) and mask, with infrared, ultraviolet and x-ray visions.

I even learned how to do stuff like web zip (fire both web shooters at something and pull myself towards it), web glide (use webs as glide flaps) and web bad guys and hang them from lampposts and stuff (fire webbing at...you get the idea).

This superhero gig was seriously awesome.

Until the day my family was wiped out.

* * *

It started off simply enough; my family going out to this high-class dinner that our relatives, the Kabras, had organized. Knowing Vikram and Isabel, Mom and Dad were a little suspicious, but Amy managed to convince them to go.

Since the Kabras were the organizers, it was (of course) extremely formal, so I had to wear a suit and tie and everything. Unfortunately, it meant that I couldn't wear my super suit underneath, because it got crazy hot.

 _Hey, what's the worst that could happen?_ I thought to myself.

Well, that night, the worst did happen. A criminal, by the name of Cletus Kasady, snuck into the banquet hall. That in itself was still fine, but he did next was unforgivable: when the waiter wasn't looking, he poured something (which I now know was poison) into my parents' drinks.

How I know? I saw him do it on my way to the bathroom.

I tried to stop the waiter, but he had already disappeared into the throng. I spun back around to where Kasady was standing, but he'd disappeared too. I knew he'd seen me, because as he poured the poison into my parents' champagne, he'd winked at me and mouthed two words.

 _You're next._

I rushed back to my table, but it was too late.

Just as I reached it, my parents drank the last drops of champagne from their flutes. I was forced to watch as the augmented strychnine drove my parents to their knees, gasping for air.

Within seconds, everyone was in an uproar. People were running for the exit. Me, I couldn't think straight. What are you supposed to do when you witness your parents' murder?

It was Amy who broke me out of the trance.

"C'mon, Dan, we have to get out of here!"

We ran out of the Kabra's mansion and onto the streets. Most of the people who had run out were just standing around, not knowing what to do.

I must have looked pretty shaken up, because Amy asked me if I was all right. I looked into her eyes, and we did that thing we do, where we both know what the other's thinking. I didn't have to say anything. She knew we were both in danger.

I nodded at her, and we ran.

* * *

We ran for a couple of blocks when Amy started to slow down. I slowed down too, but Amy wouldn't let me.

"Keep going, Dan. I'll be fine. I just need to catch my breath." Against my better judgment, I ran ahead.

I had barely run 100 meters down the same street when my Spider-sense started tingling. All of a sudden, a bunch of thugs wearing ski masks stepped out of the shadows. After my six-ish months of crime-fighting, I had learnt how to spot gang leaders. I singled out one guy with a different mask design as the leader. I was right.

"Your money..." That was as far as he got, before my fist solidly connected with his face. He flew a couple meters and landed in a crumpled heap. I have the proportionate strength of a spider, so I CAN actually launch a guy across the street.

The 3 other guys exchanged wary glances, as if considering whether or not to attack. As a gentleman, I readied myself and waited for them to decide. Besides, letting your enemies attack first is a great way to learn their fighting style.

I say style, but these guys were thugs for a reason.

One of the guys decided to attack. To be honest, I saw his punch a mile away. Just as it was about to hit, I side-stepped his punch while stepping into his stance and sucker-punched him. Below the belt, I know, but this is street fighting. The only rule is survive.

The blow knocked the wind right out of him, and he fell. I turned my attention to the other two. This time, I didn't hesitate. I lunged forward, as if to grab their heads and smash them together, like they do in cartoons.

I saw their bodies tense up to counter my obvious attack. Which was fine, because I wasn't even trying to do that. At the last second, I switched attacks and struck their knees, rendering their legs useless. I probably broke their knees in the process.

The leader was back on his feet now, and pulled out a gun.

"All right, that's ENOUGH!" He yelled as he pulled the trigger again and again.

At this point, I'd hit the "Spider-Zone", as I like to call it. I dodged every single bullet like they were dodgeballs (I'm awesome at dodgeball). I shot webbing up his gun's barrel (I'm also damn accurate), making it pretty much a mess of metal and webbing in his hands.

I smirked and said, "Children shouldn't play with guns."

He jumped at me and tried to pin me to the ground. Like I did earlier, I side-stepped him, grabbed him by his tattered collar and kneed him in the groin. He fell to the ground.

"Okay, okay! I give! I give!" He whimpered as he writhed in agony.

I webbed the rest of them up and called 911. It was then that my Spider-sense went crazy. It took me a moment to realize why.

 _Amy._

Then I heard her scream.

* * *

I raced back down the street, searching for any sign of where Amy was. I found her in an alleyway, being...assaulted by that sorry excuse of a man I've grown to hate.

"Kasady!" I yelled.

He looked up, stopped screwing Amy, who collapsed and started sobbing, and walked over as I'm his long-lost friend that he wants to share a drink with.

"Ah, my old friend Daniel! I'm so glad you could join us! We've got quite the party going on! There's a girl in the back who I think–".

I got him in a headlock and hissed in his ear, "You killed my parents. You raped my sister. Don't you DARE talk to me like I'm your pal."

In response, he pulled out a knife. "I'm so sorry you feel that way. He said as he stabbed it into my side. "We would have been great friends."

In the shock from being stabbed, I let him go and clutched the wound.

 _Not very deep, but it hurts like hell!_ I thought to myself.

"Surprised? My knife is coated with a special symbiotic agent, designed to fool your Spider-sense into thinking that there's no danger imminent."

He moved in to strike, but I was ready for him. My Spider-sense might not have been useful, but my enhanced reflexes sure were. I grabbed his knife wrist and bent it back at him, causing him to drop his knife.

He dropped to the ground to grab it. Taking advantage of his stance, I web-zipped about 10 or so meters up one of the walls, then dropped foot-first onto his back. I heard a very satisfying crunch of vertebrae breaking. I web-zipped off his back (yes, to the same point on the wall), web-pulled him up and threw him head-first for good measure, too.

Then I dropped onto him again.

What? He raped my sister. He deserved it.

"Dan?" Amy asked, faintly.

"Yeah, Amy, I'm here." I said as I dropped to her side and took her pulse. I could hardly make it out.

Somewhere, I heard the wail of a siren.

I tried to move Amy out to the street so the police or the ambulance or whoever it was out there could see her.

As soon as I tried it, she cried out in pain.

"Dan, don't! It hurts!"

I hesitated, then let her down gently. "Amy," I said, trying not to cry, "Don't do this to me."

"Dan..." She started coughing up blood. That bastard must have ruptured her lungs. "You used webbing to fight him." She said, like she was trying to reason it out.

"Yeah, I did." I said, trying to keep her conscious.

"You're...you're the Spider-Man, aren't you?"

I paused, then said, "Yeah, I am."

She coughed again, harder this time. At that moment, I knew that she wasn't going to make it. From the look in her eyes, she knew it too.

She gave a little chuckle. "My little brother's all grown up and protecting the world." She was starting to sound faint.

"Amy, no!"

"Mom and Dad would be so proud..." She was getting paler with every second.

"Amy! Don't die on me! Do you DARE die on me!" I said, fighting back the tears.

"I'll be sure to tell them when I see them."

"Amy..." My voice broke.

"Goodbye, Dan." She was struggling for air.

"I love you."

And she let go.

I clutched her lifeless body and cried. I just let it all out. My family was dead.

"I love you, too."

* * *

The week afterwards was their funeral. The church was empty, except for a few close relatives. Fiske was there, as were the Holt family, Uncle Alistair, Sinead, Ian, Natalie, Jonah, Jake, Atticus, Cara and Evan.

After the caskets were lowered into the ground, most everyone left, but I stayed a bit longer.

The service was in the late afternoon. It was already evening when I finally tore myself away from my family's final resting place.

It was raining heavily, but I didn't mind. It reflected my mood.

It was at the parking lot when I met him. For some reason, this random homeless guy was walking towards me.

"Listen," He said to me. "I heard about what happened with your sister. That man deserved what you did."

How he even knew, I had no idea, so I put up my jacket's hood and walked away.

"You killed Kasady, you know. You're no better than the rest of them."

I just kept walking.

"And I bet you wouldn't have tried to save them if they weren't your family. You're a fake!"

That stopped me in my tracks.

"Listen, old man, I'm in no mood to discuss what happened that night, and quite frankly, you have no right to talk about it so flippantly. Good night." I continued to walk away.

He started saying (and eventually shouting) other random stuff, but I'd stopped listening.

The last thing I heard him say was, "The Sinister Six are coming for you!", but I didn't think much of it.

When I got home that night, it was eerily quiet. Normally, when I got home, Mom would be in the kitchen preparing dinner, Amy would be in her room studying and Dad would be in the backyard doing stuff.

I would have to get used to not having them around.

I took a cold shower and had a snack before climbing into bed. I tried to get to sleep, but I couldn't get that crazy guy's words out of my head.

 _I killed Kasady? I'm not a killer...am I? No. I can't be. I'm a good guy...I mean, Kasady deserved it, right?_

Then it hit me.

 _I did kill him._

It was then that I finally understood the phrase that the original Spider-Man lived by: With great power comes great responsibility.

I reacted. I killed someone. Even though he killed my parents and raped my sister, I shouldn't have stooped to his level. I was better than that.

I wasn't able to save my parents or my sister, but I could protect the people of New York.

From that day onwards, I vowed to use my powers responsibly. I would be the savior of the downtrodden, the defender of the defenseless.

I would be the Spider-Man.

The Spider-Man that my parents could be proud of.


End file.
